this is your life
by turtleducklings
Summary: This is your life. Eat. Sleep. And work. Not necessarily in that order.


this is your life.

**avox girl**

( _deathly silent _)

disclaimer: not mine.

* * *

This is your life, and today is all you've got now  
And today is all you'll ever have  
This is your life, are you who you wanna be?  
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be,  
When the world was younger, and you had everything to lose?

- This Is Your Life, Switchfoot_

* * *

_

You still remember what it's like to talk. To laugh. To taste.

To smile.

Even though smiling doesn't require a tongue, you haven't smiled in a very long time. Why would you have the reason to? Nothing in your life makes you happy anymore.

Your life was perfect before. You lived a life of joy, contentment, love, happiness. You lived a life where the Capitol was just a scary story your elders told the younger ones when they misbehaved. "You have to get to bed on time, or the Capitol might find you and they'll come to turn you into an Avox!" You used to laugh at the thought of that. You, an Avox? Never.

You used to have a name. A long time ago, people called you by a name other than, "you" or "girl." But it's been so long, you have a hard time remembering.

Your life is full of commands and beatings and grueling work. Your saving grace is the Hunger Games. It's a time where all you have to do is wait on an assigned pair tributes and their team. It's the one time a year where you might get a little sympathy. It reminds you that you're still a person.

You can hardly remember how it happened, it was so long ago. You and your best friend snuck out of the underground camps. Just for the thrill of it. You'd never seen the forest, the sun, the sky. When you finally made it past all the guards, you saw things you'd never dreamt of seeing. You and your friend decided to run for it. You were tired of District 13. There was nothing there for you anymore.

So you both ran. You made it out okay. There were plenty of edible plants in the forests. You fashioned knives from sharp stones so you could kill the game. You and your friend lived like this for a long time. Until the Capitol caught onto you.

You don't even know how they found you. They came from nowhere, struck from nowhere.

You were running from them. The Capitol's hovercrafts. You had been running for days. Your clothes were nothing but rags. Dark circles surrounded your eyes from lack of sleep. And now, you were running as if your life depended on it. You had to slow down for a moment, to catch your breath. But you didn't stop. You looked around, and your eyes landed on a pair of kids that looked to be about your age. A girl and a boy, huddled in the bushes, silently watching you. You called out for help, but they didn't respond. They just stared. You were about to call out again when all of a sudden, a hovercraft appeared from nowhere. Where one second there was only sky, suddenly there was the hulking mass of floating metal.

A net dropped down and entangled you, then swept you up into the craft. Before the doors closed you caught a glimpse of your friend being impaled by one of their metal spears. You screamed his name before you could stop yourself. Then there was a prick in your arm and you don't remember anymore.

The next thing you know, you're waking up in a brightly lit room. There are people surrounding you, nudging you and telling you to get up.

You get up and try to ask where you are. But your mouth won't form the words. Can't form the words. You gasp and open your mouth, feeling around with your fingers. What was once your tongue is now empty space.

You're an Avox.

You don't even have time to react. The people surrounding you are shoving clothes at you and telling you to get dressed and get to work. There are floors to be scrubbed, beds to be made.

Your life is terrible. You eat, sleep, and work. Not necessarily in that order. To eat, they feed you a vile liquid that makes your throat burn. You can't taste it, and for once you're glad you don't have a tongue.

The work is hard, and you're never shown mercy. If you don't or can't finish a task, you're beaten and then deprived of food for the rest of the day.

The nightmare you thought would never come true is now your life. You have no hope, no future. You have nothing. You are nothing.

This is your life.

Is it anything you ever dreamed it would be?


End file.
